Apprenticeships in the UK should last for a minimum of two years to align them to “international standards”, a new report has suggested.
The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development has also called for apprentices to attract lower levels of public funding from the age of 30 onwards to stop younger people from being “crowded out” of the system amid a surge in apprenticeships for older people who are simply looking to upskill.
The HR body published research today that highlighted falling employer investment in skills training despite the number of skills shortage vacancies rising across all four nations of the UK, with a particular focus on how apprenticeships have diverged training opportunities following the introduction of the levy in 2017.
Investment in training per employee in the UK has declined by 19 per cent since 2011, from £2,191 to £1,778, with UK investment per employee at around half that of the EU average, according to the report.
